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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29342778">Love That Lasts</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandomwolfx/pseuds/fandomwolfx'>fandomwolfx</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Riverdale (TV 2017)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>A 'What If' Situation, Established Relationship, F/M, Seven Years Later, Varchie!Centric, sort of very loosely based on s5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 12:53:49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,564</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29342778</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandomwolfx/pseuds/fandomwolfx</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Seven years later... Archie and Veronica are still going strong </p><p>or: How I think the time jump situation would work if our Archiekins and Ronnie were still together</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Archie Andrews/Veronica Lodge</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>33</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Love That Lasts</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So basically this is very loosely based on what we know of 5x04 but obviously if Varchie were still a thing. </p><p>Basically the premise is that Riverdale is still run down and need of saving to which Archie has a main role, he's just also with Veronica whilst this is happening.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Archie jangles his key in the lock, noticing it gets stuck a little and making a mental note to fix it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Once in the apartment, he sets the overloaded duffle bag onto the floor, wishing he’d listened to Veronica when she told him to take two- </span>
  <em>
    <span>Archiekins </span>
  </em>
  <span>she had said </span>
  <em>
    <span>I’m practically the Marie Kondo of bag packing, you most certainly need to take another one, I think that one is about to burst at the seams. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He winces at the loud sound the duffel makes when it hits their hardwood floor and winces once again as he rolls his shoulder now that it’s finally free of the weight. Using his other arm he reaches behind to flip the lightswitch on and his vision is illuminated. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The apartment is immaculate, whilst Archie does his best to keep the place tidy he can admit that he is probably the main mess causer in their relationship - primarily just music sheets and memos, but it's fair to say with his six weeks absence Veronica has somehow managed to make it cleaner than when they first moved in three years ago.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He shuffles past the foyer and lets his empty stomach lead him to their kitchen. Opening the refrigerator he expects to find it full of Veronicas salads (the ones the Kardashians get, but she’s insistent she found the place first) and his heart warms a little when he instead finds a fridge full of Moet and chocolates he dreads to know the price of, clearly awaiting his arrival for what was supposed to be next week. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>All thoughts of hunger- at least regarding food- dissipates as he thinks of his sleeping wife in the room next to him, unaware of his presence. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Six weeks away from his wife this early into their marriage was the </span>
  <em>
    <span>last </span>
  </em>
  <span>thing Archie ever wanted to do, but a few months ago he’d had a call from Toni explaining the dire situation the town of Riverdale was in and how she was hoping, begging for renovation help. It had been seven years since he had last stepped into the town with pep but he felt like he owed it to the once peaceful town to try and restore it to its former glory. Fortunately it seemed like most of his peers had a similar idea because when he and Veronica turned up to Pops they were greeted with the likes of Betty, Cheryl, Reggie, Kevin and Jughead who were clearly there to help too.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>‘Sorry pureheart’ Jughead had commented, ‘looks like you’re not the only one with a hero complex anymore.’</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The whole gang had stayed for around a month, mostly helping raise funds but once that part was done via articles, car washes and all sorts of hare-brained schemes mostly from Veronica and Cheryl all that remained was </span>
  <em>
    <span>actually </span>
  </em>
  <span>rebuilding the town. With physical labor the only job left the willing participants seemed to dwindle and most of the group scarpered off back to normality- once again Cheryl and Veronica being the quickest to leave. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That’s how Archie spent most of his first summer of married life living in his dilapidated childhood bedroom, sweating through the day and very Veronicaless - exactly how he’d spent his summer of freshman year. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He was supposed to have been back in Riverdale for another seven days, but when Toni’s baby had decided to make their existence known a little early all projects were shut down and Archie was free to make his way back to his city… and his heart. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He’d only had the glow of the refrigerator for light in the kitchen, so when he slowly closes the door trying to make as little noise as possible obviously the first thing he does is bang his foot on the marble cupboard next to it- yelping out in pain. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Grumbling in a little self pity Archie makes his way towards the hall so he can </span>
  <em>
    <span>finally make</span>
  </em>
  <span> his way into bed with his wife, and he’s only got one foot out of the kitchen door when the hall lights flicker on. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>For a second he wonders when they had automatic lighting installed, but when he peers around the corner he sees a figure standing outside their bedroom. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Whoever’s out there I will have you know that this panic button I’m holding in my hand can have New York’s finest security here before you can say parole time.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He’s sure that she’s trying to look intimidating, and he knows from plenty of experiences that she can be but when she’s stood there bare legged, sleeping mask pushed up into her hair and wearing one of his old sweatshirts that he’s pretty sure is from highschool where the sleeves dangle way past her hands that he’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>definitely</span>
  </em>
  <span> going to tease her about later she looks more adorable than anything else. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>However, that panic  button is certainly still intimidating so he lets her know of his presence. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Woah, woah, woah Ronnie” he starts stepping fully into the hallway and putting his hands up in surrender, “I know you love those marble doors in the kitchen but I don’t think there’s any need to get security on me because I kicked one.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh my God!” she exclaims, letting the button fall to the floor and Archie seriously hopes she hasn’t set it off on accident in the process.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No just your husband the last time I checked” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He’s about to make the joke about the few times she’s seemingly called him that name in the bedroom before when she barrels into his arms. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Having practised this manoeuvre many a time, he instinctively places his hands under her thighs to hoist her up whilst her ankles lock around his waist in the same way her hands wrap around his neck. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She plants small kisses on any surface of skin she can find: his forehead, chin, jaw and whilst he tries to find her lips she dodges all his attempts to ask him all sorts of questions like “what are you doing here?” and “How come you’re back a week early?”. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He explains how the arrival of Toni’s baby a few days ago halted all production since she was the boss. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And our excellent friends Betty and Jughead came back to tie up all the loose ends because I don’t think they trusted me to sort through the paperwork”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her hand moves from the nape of his neck up to his face and make their way from underneath the material of the sweatshirt, her thumb rubbing little circles just underneath his eye that he involuntarily leans into, and all he can think about is how he hasn’t had sex (phone sex doesn’t count) or kissed his wife in over a month. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“However, they claim it’s because I needed to get home-” he presses a chaste kiss to her lips and she pouts when he pulls away immediately, “-to-” another one, “-my-” one more, “wife”. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He whispers the last word and this time presses a bruising kiss to her lips, she hums in response and slips her tongue into his mouth, and Archie considers it a goddamn miracle that he still has the strength to stand up and hold her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His eyes flutter close and he starts to let his hands move from her legs to her ass, when she abruptly pulls away and pushes him in the chest slightly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Archie! You never told me Jughead and B went back to Riverdale, did they go together? Are they </span>
  <em>
    <span>back </span>
  </em>
  <span>together? Because if so I’ll have to send them cupcakes from-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You wanna talk about Betty and Jughead?...” he asks one eyebrow cocked at her, “right now?”. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well Mr. Lodge- Andrews, the quicker you give me an answer the quicker we can get back to our own romance” she replies, grinding down slightly on the word romance and Archie has to dig into the flesh of her legs to ground himself. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No not together, probably closer to being so, probably sent me home so they </span>
  <em>
    <span>could </span>
  </em>
  <span>get together I reckon” he rattles off his answers quickly and practically breathes the last word into her mouth as he kisses her before the sentence is even finished. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Not wanting her to ask anymore questions about their friends back home, Archie quickly moves them both down the corridor, the urge to push her against one of the walls is strong, but Veronica has a strong rule about not doing anything against cream walls after their rendez-vous when they  had  just moved in and  Archie had spent the whole day potting Veronica’s house plants: the distinct hand prints left there didn’t really leave much to the imagination, especially not Mary’s imagination who entered the apartment not thirty minutes later to help move the rest of their stuff in. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His mouth moves from hers to her neck and then right to her exposed collarbone thanks to the oversized sweatshirt. He presses wet and sloppy kisses there as he reaches their bedroom door and only remembers at the very last second to avoid the panic button that is still abandoned by the doorway- he really doesn’t want security to walk in on what'sp about to go down. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>--------------</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Also he does tease her later on about the fact she was wearing his old sweatshirt, but only when the said shirt is out of sight and discarded somewhere on their floor. </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Did I basically write this fic purely in spite of the clip of Ch*d and Veronica we just got??? yes, yes I am. </p><p>I've actually had this idea for a little while, I just originally weren't going to have them be married but then the pettiness kicked in. </p><p>I also want to shout out @missanonyma who pointed out that there hasn't been many va fics we're they're dating and reunite !!! So I wrote this as an attempt to fix that </p><p>Also you should check her out on ao3, she has the best and cutest va fics!!!!</p><p>I'm posting this just before the time jump episode (literally two hours before) so let's see how it treats us varchie's (I have a feeling it will be rough for a while ngl, but I also think it will be great in the long run) </p><p>Anyway, as always all kudos and comments are greatly appreciated and if you want to talk varchie you can find me on tumblr: @ronniesandrxws or twitter: @ivyxevermore</p></blockquote></div></div>
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